Once upon a time, in the quaint city of Providence, Rhode Island, a boy named Brad Jacobs was born into a world of glittering jewels and global commerce. His father, a savvy fashion jewelry importer, and his mother, Charlotte Sybil, created a home where the air buzzed with discussions of markets and aesthetics. Young Brad, born on August 3, 1956, was a curious blend of his environment - a mind attuned to the beauty of art and the rhythm of numbers.Brad's youth unfurled in the halls of Northfield Mount Hermon School, where he danced with melodies and equations, his mind always racing ahead, eager to explore beyond the conventional paths. College called to him, first Bennington and then Brown University, where music and mathematics were his chosen companions. But in 1976, the real world, vast and untamed, beckoned, and Brad, in a move that would define the rest of his life, left his textbooks behind.The world of oil trading was his first arena. Here, in the bustling markets, Brad's entrepreneurial spirit took flight. By 1979, he had co-founded Amerex Oil Associates Inc., a testament to his nascent business acumen. The company's journey was a whirlwind of success, with Brad at its helm until its sale in 1983. But his ambitions were not to be tethered.